Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Requesting - Your Thanksgiving Tips, Recipes, and Stories
"Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence."
-Erma Bombeck
With Thanksgiving just around the corner I'd like you to send in your special tips, recipes, or stories for this holiday.
Here are a few of my tips:
- Have your table set ahead of time.
- Line the cavity of the turkey with culinary cheesecloth and then put in your stuffing. When the turkey is done you can pull all the stuffing out at once. If you can't find the cheesecloth you can use those oven brown in bags but be sure to poke a bunch of holes in it before you put it in so the juices from the turkey can get into the stuffing.
- When you're letting the turkey cool down before carving, cover it with a clean wet towel to help it keep it's moistness.
- Although we are only 8 having dinner, for years I was making a very large turkey so there would be enough for leftovers. Of course this requires getting up at the crack of dawn on a day you could normally sleep a little later to get that big sucker in there in plenly of time to hopefully get done, with everyone looking for that little timer to pop so you can finally eat! Doesn't it always take longer than it says it will?
Well, for the past few years I've greatly simplfied that! Days before I make a turkey, usually that frozen one you get for free if you've spent X amount of dollars on groceries. I carve that one all up, put it away, and it's ready for people to take home for leftovers. You can put a damp paper towel (or if you're Martha Stewart a damp linen towel) in with the meat to keep it moist. You can make up your gravy now too if you make it from scratch because you already have the drippings you need. This also allows for more dressing to be cooked in the turkey, which always tastes better.
Now on Thanksgiving I do another turkey, this time fresh so there is no sweat wondering if it's throughly defrosted. The rest of the stuffing can be cooked in this one. Also because it's not huge it doesn't have to be started so early and it doesn't take forever to get done! If you don't want/need so much dressing cooked in the turkey you can do this one without it and it'll be done even sooner.
-Erma Bombeck
With Thanksgiving just around the corner I'd like you to send in your special tips, recipes, or stories for this holiday.
Here are a few of my tips:
- Have your table set ahead of time.
- Line the cavity of the turkey with culinary cheesecloth and then put in your stuffing. When the turkey is done you can pull all the stuffing out at once. If you can't find the cheesecloth you can use those oven brown in bags but be sure to poke a bunch of holes in it before you put it in so the juices from the turkey can get into the stuffing.
- When you're letting the turkey cool down before carving, cover it with a clean wet towel to help it keep it's moistness.
- Although we are only 8 having dinner, for years I was making a very large turkey so there would be enough for leftovers. Of course this requires getting up at the crack of dawn on a day you could normally sleep a little later to get that big sucker in there in plenly of time to hopefully get done, with everyone looking for that little timer to pop so you can finally eat! Doesn't it always take longer than it says it will?
Well, for the past few years I've greatly simplfied that! Days before I make a turkey, usually that frozen one you get for free if you've spent X amount of dollars on groceries. I carve that one all up, put it away, and it's ready for people to take home for leftovers. You can put a damp paper towel (or if you're Martha Stewart a damp linen towel) in with the meat to keep it moist. You can make up your gravy now too if you make it from scratch because you already have the drippings you need. This also allows for more dressing to be cooked in the turkey, which always tastes better.
Now on Thanksgiving I do another turkey, this time fresh so there is no sweat wondering if it's throughly defrosted. The rest of the stuffing can be cooked in this one. Also because it's not huge it doesn't have to be started so early and it doesn't take forever to get done! If you don't want/need so much dressing cooked in the turkey you can do this one without it and it'll be done even sooner.
posted by DSL | 9:42 AM
2 Comments:
Three things which have become Thanksgiving standards since we moved into our cabin ... 1) parsnip pie - this is exactly the same as pumpkin pie except you used mashed parsnips which we think taste much, much better. 2)homemade cranberry sauce - this is made using the recipe on the bag of fresh cranberries. All you do is boil up the bag of berries with a cup of water and a cup of sugar and the berries burst into excellent sauce which even gels when you chill it. 3)sweet potatoes and pears - you bake the sweet potatoes and pears(about three sweet potatoes to one pear) then peel and mash them together. It's sweet and satisfying without added sugar.
That parsnip pie sounds interesting. If you want to send along your recipe I'll post it.
My mom used to make the fresh cranberry sauce that way. I bet some freshly grated orange rind might be a nice addition. My mother-in-law makes a cranberry jello mold with crushed pineapple in it.
I'll be posting a pumpkin yam souffle' recipe I made up.
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